AMHERST — Amherst is in the midst of efforts to maintain and improve the quality of public drinking water while enhancing the supply, both through a dredging project for sedimentation basins at the Atkins Reservoir and reconstruction of a water treatment plant at a cost of about $21 million.

As the town last week marked the topping off of the new Centennial Water Treatment Plant in Pelham, which will be able to provide up to one million gallons per day of treated water to the town’s water system, Amherst was awarded $260,000 from the Inland Dredging Pilot Project of the Massachusetts Dredging Program, coordinated by the state’s Executive Office of Economic Development.

The latest grant will pay for the design and permitting of dredging three sedimentation basins at Atkins Reservoir, located in Shutesbury, which have needed dredging for many years, said Elizabeth Willson, environmental scientist for the Department of Public Works.

“Previous sedimentation rate studies at the basins showed they have minimal storage capacity left and will soon fail, causing sedimentation in the reservoir,” Willson said. “Preserving the storage capacity and water quality of Atkins Reservoir is crucial to providing healthy drinking water to the residents of Amherst.”

During the work, about 1,800 cubic yards of material will be removed from the sedimentation basins that treat surface water prior to entering the reservoir. Since the basins are currently at or near full capacity, their ability to trap and divert material from the reservoir is impaired.

This project builds on previous work completed under two Water Management Act Grants the town received in 2016 and 2018 to study stream flow in the Atkins Reservoir watershed and impacts to the Adams Brook from diverting water to the reservoir. The 2018 report recommended dredging the sedimentation basins to allow for stream flow diversion during high flow events, and less during low flow times.

Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek said Atkins Reservoir provides about one-third of the town’s daily drinking water.

“It not only ensures the availability of clean and safe drinking water for our residents but also supports our growth and sustainability efforts,” Ziomek said.

Funding from the grant will be used to hire an environmental consulting firm to collect data including sediment sampling, topographic and bathymetric surveys, and wetland delineation, and to put together a sediment management plan and design drawings.

The data and design plans will be used to complete and submit permit applications with various government agencies. The dredging will require environmental permitting, including submittal to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office. Once the project design and permitting are complete, the town will seek additional funding for the work.

Centennial plant

Meanwhile, in Pelham the Centennial Water Treatment Plant continues to rise at the site of an earlier building. The previous facility needed replacement due to its age, changes in water quality that made the treatment process less effective and a lightning strike that damaged electrical components.

The new building, expected to be complete in fall 2025, will have more effective and efficient treatment technology.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the new treatment plant will be a state-of-the-art facility that will ensure an ample supply of safe drinking water for decades to come

“The foresight to invest in this facility will provide added resilience to the town’s water resources,” Bockelman said. “The credit goes to Superintendent of Public Works Guildford Mooring and Assistant Superintendent of Public Works Amy Rusiecki, who dedicated years to getting this project permitted, designed, funded and constructed.”

Construction of the new treatment plant is being financed by the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, with joint funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection. The project is aimed at improving the resiliency of the Amherst drinking water system for residents and businesses in and near the town.

With the treatment plant offline in recent years, the Pelham reservoirs haven’t been tapped, and when the Atkins Reservoir is low the town turns to its wells in the Lawrence Swamp area of town.

“Having this facility online gives us the resiliency we need to overcome things such as climate change that might impact our water system in the future,” Rusiecki said.

Rusiecki said the town’s five groundwater production wells and four surface water reservoirs supply an average of 3 million gallons per day to residents and businesses, the Amherst and Hampshire college campuses, the University of Massachusetts and parts of Pelham, Belchertown, Leverett and Hadley.

Bockelman said the dredging and building projects are about maintaining a diverse supply of drinking water that is clean and from secure sources.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.